Netflix introduces new rating system, thumbs ups and thumbs downs

Netflix plans on implementing a new way of rating content. In the coming weeks, Netflix is replacing its five-star rating system with thumbs ups and thumbs downs.

On Thursday, Tod Yellin, Netflix VP of product, spoke with journalists and told them that the company has tested out the new thumbs up and down ratings with hundred of thousands of members last year. Yellin said the results showed a 200% increase in engagement with ratings with the thumbs' rating system.

Currently, the five-star system is used to rate movies and TV shows. Those results helps the streaming media service with recommendations for future programming based on what the user watches and rate.

@verge if they do go to this binary system, they should at least include percentages on how many people voted thumbs up or down

Netflix will make the switch from the current rating system to the new one in April. A percent match score based on content users are watching will also be introduced. Yellin said Netflix made ratings less important because the implicit signal of their users' behavior is more important.

The new rating system may reduce the influence of organized efforts to game ratings for certain content on Netflix. Comedian Amy Schumer claims that organized efforts affected her stand-up special The Leather Special. Currently, her program has less than three stars on Netflix. Schumer referenced an article on Split Sider, saying that alt-right groups may have brought her program's ratings down.

@verge@netflix I guess all the 1* ratings from Amy Schumer's "special" was more than they could handle.